Leo Teskey appeals dangerous offender designation

A man who beat a building manager so savagely that he was left in a permanent vegetative state asked the Alberta Court of Appeal Friday to remove his dangerous offender designation.

Leo Teskey was given the designation when he was sentenced for the November 2000 attack on Dougald Miller.

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Teskey, 44, was flown from a Quebec prison to appear before the panel of judges in person.

Teskey wants his designation changed from a dangerous to a long-term offender.

Dangerous offenders stay in jail indefinitely. Long-term offenders are subject to long-term supervision orders that can be a maximum of ten years in length after serving their sentences.

Teskey was first labelled a dangerous offender in 2005. The Supreme Court of Canada overturned his original aggravated assault conviction in 2007 and ordered a new trial because the judge took 11 months to deliver a written decision.

On Friday, Teskeys lawyer argued that delays in that first trial tainted the subsequent 14 years of court proceedings.

The argument enrages Millers wife and caregiver, Lesley Miller.

I'm livid,to be quite honest, she said. Because this is again, a waste of taxpayer's money.

Dougald Miller found Teskey sleeping in the hallway of an apartment building and tried to get him to leave.

In response, Teskey assaulted Miller to the point he was left brain-damaged and permanently paralyzed from the neck down.

Now 75, Miller cannot speak, stand or feed himself.

Lesley Miller has now made it her mission to attend every court proceeding involving the man who attacked her husband.

I've never wished harm on anybody. Except that man, she said. He looks more evil every time I see him.

The appeal court judges have reserved their decision on Teskeys request.